Missouri

A mother and father – a mental health crisis worker himself – grieve the needless death of their son

An investigation by The Appeal and the Yale Investigative Reporting Lab reveals how prosecutors use the state’s felony murder statute to imprison people who say they acted in self-defense. The majority of those convicted under the law since 2010 are Black. “I had to take the plea because they’re using this law to get people to stay locked up,” one man said.

Jones’s election is the latest in a string of progressive victories in the region.

Days before the election, campaign finance reports show that real-estate and construction industries favor Cara Spencer over Tishaura Jones.

KC Tenants has secured passage of a tenant “bill of rights” and successfully blocked hundreds of evictions through civil action in the Kansas City, Missouri area.

Jones says her experience transforming the treasurer’s office will make her an effective mayor. Voters will let candidates know what they think next week.

The order halts evictions in the city and surrounding area until Jan. 24, but a housing rights group says greater protections are needed for the most vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Bush’s victory in Missouri’s First Congressional District makes her the first Black woman elected to represent Missouri in Congress.

If she wins her bid for office in November, Bush will become the first Black woman elected to represent Missouri in Congress.

Its decades-long commitment to upholding convictions—even those marred by police or prosecutorial misconduct—has left Missourians languishing in prison for years.

Nicole Poston was sentenced in July for punching a police officer after she slipped free from a handcuff. Life sentences, even for nonhomicide offenses like Poston’s, are ‘a major factor’ in mass incarceration in the U.S., a criminal justice expert said.

If the U.S. Supreme Court or the state’s governor doesn’t step in, Barton’s would be the first execution carried out in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eric Schmitt should follow the lead of a Pennsylvania prosecutor who acknowledged that a man deserved a new trial, even when it meant reversing a murder conviction.

More prosecutors are trying to root out wrongful convictions and restore trust in the legal system. They’re meeting opposition on all sides.

Critics say the list, which would apply to defendants in St. Louis County, Missouri, would infringe on people’s constitutional right to a speedy trial.

His legal team had pushed for clemency, arguing that Bucklew’s previous attorneys mishandled his capital murder case.

A series of victories for advocates reflects a shift in the ‘popular narrative’ around bail.

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that his execution, which experts have said will be bloody and gruesome, does not amount to cruel and unusual punishment. But problems with his case started long before that, his attorneys say.

Kansas City news outlets called scores of people ‘violent criminals’ based solely on the word of police and the federal government.

Two sheriffs in Missouri have cut off all in-person visitation in favor of costly video technology.

A lawsuit challenging cash bail in St. Louis could help close a notorious jail.

Can a prostitute be raped? As a young law student, this was an interesting question. As an experienced lawyer, this is a no brainer. The answer is: of course. The fact that someone may have engaged in illegal acts does not give other people license to commit crimes against that person. This is true because, […]

Three former prosecutors and one former intern employed by the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office have admitted to helping a police detective cover up his assault of a handcuffed suspect. All have resigned or been dismissed. One, Bliss Barber Worrell, recently pleaded guilty to helping conceal a crime, a felony. She was sentenced to probation […]

The execution of Marcellus Williams has been indefinitely delayed, but anger at the actions of St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch are unlikely to dissipate anytime soon. McCulloch has repeatedly said that Williams should be executed, despite newly discovered evidence that he may not have been responsible for the 1998 murder of Felicia Gayle […]